In this section

THE HISTORY OF THE QUEEN'S
HOUSE

Carved frieze in the Queen's Cabinet

The First Phase

The Queen's House, built as a link between the gardens of
Greenwich Palace and the royal park, was the first essay in pure
renaissance design in England. Like the earlier villa of Pope
Julius in Rome and the later Petit Trianon in the park of Versailles,
it was designed to be decorated and furnished with the most lavish
care, but was small enough to give the illusion of escape from the
splendours of a great palace. Here for the first time, as far as documented evidence has been traced, Inigo Jones was able to give tangible
form to his dreams of architectural design, to carry out in practice the
precept noted in his sketch-book on the 20th of January 1614/15:
"... in architecture ye outward ornaments oft (fn. 1) to be sollid, proporsionable according to the rulles, masculine and unaffected." (fn. 2)

1613

Anne of Denmark

It might almost be said that the Queen's House owed its existence to
the bad marksmanship of Anne of Denmark. It was begun in 1616, but
its story may be taken back three years earlier. Mr. Chamberlain,
writing to Sir Dudley Carleton on the 1st of August 1613, tells him:
"The King is in Progress, and the Queen gone or going after. At their
last being at Theobalds, which was about a fortnight since, the Queen
shooting a deer mistook her mark, and killed Jewel the King's most
special and favourite hound; at which he stormed exceedingly awhile;
but after he knew who did it he was soon pacified, and with much
kindness wished her not to be troubled with it, for he should love
her never the worse; and the next day sent her a diamond worth
£2,000 as a legacy from his dead dog. Love and kindness increase
daily between them; and it is thought they never were on better
terms." (fn. 3) On the 25th of November 1613 Chamberlain notes: "The
Queen by her late pacification hath gained Greenwich into jointure." (fn. 4)
Greenwich Palace lay along the south bank of the river with gardens
and orchards behind it. Beyond the orchards ran a public road, and
south of this again was Greenwich Park. The palace had been greatly
enlarged by Henry VIII, who held many joyous revels there. Both
his daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, were born and christened at
Greenwich: here Mary, at the age of two, was solemnly affianced to
the Dauphin, who was little older, and on October 5th the marriage
ceremony was performed at Greenwich. (fn. 5) Six years later, in the same
palace, she was betrothed to the Emperor Charles, who was present in
person. It was here that Henry awaited the arrival of Anne of Cleves,
and married her in 1540: here that Edward VI died ; and here, in
the mire of the roadway between gardens and park, young Raleigh
spread his cloak that his queen might pass dry-shod.

1616

Anne of Denmark began to plan improvements in her new possession.
She altered the buildings facing the gardens, and in 1616 was in
consultation with the King's surveyor, Inigo Jones, concerning a more
important alteration. On the 21st of June 1617 Chamberlain wrote
to Sir Dudley Carleton: "The Queen removed on Tuesday from
Greenwich to Oatlands . . .: she is building somewhat at Greenwich
wch must be finished this sommer, yt is saide to be some curious devise
of Inigo Jones, and will cost above 4000li . . ." (fn. 6)

James had enclosed the park (fn. 7), separated from the palace gardens by
this public road from Deptford to Woolwich, with a brick wall.
Astride this roadway, on the site of an old gatehouse, Inigo Jones
planned his curious device, which later writers called the House of
Delight, designing two buildings united by a covered bridge of stone
across the mire, that Queen Anne might pass from garden to park
dry-shod (Plate 14). In place of the balcony of the gatehouse which
looked out across the park, he planned an Italian loggia of Ionic
columns.

1616–18; 1618–21

Sketch Plans by Inigo Jones

In the Burlington-Devonshire collection of Jones's drawings, now in
the library of the Royal Institute of British Architects, is a sheet of
sketch-plans for the house (Fig. 2), trial essays which show that the
germ of the finished scheme was in his mind. Work was begun in
October 1616, and carried on for eighteen months. The gatehouse was
demolished, foundations dug, and stone, bricks and timber assembled.
Before the building was finished difficulties arose; perhaps the
Queen's finances, always in a parlous state, were unequal to the strain
of building: perhaps the illness which proved fatal was upon her.
On the 30th of April 1618 the work was stopped. Within a year the
Queen died, and on the 29th of June 1621 Jones presented his account
for the work so far completed (see Appendix IV). The house remained
unfinished, and ten years were to pass before work was resumed.

The House of Delight

1619; 1629

After Queen Anne's death in 1619 Greenwich Palace and its park
were settled on Charles, Prince of Wales. He was in residence
here in the summer, for a letter to Lord Doncaster (fn. 8) is dated from
Greenwich on the 27th of June 1619. (fn. 9) He retained possession of the
palace and park after his accession in 1625, and his marriage to the
Princess Henrietta-Maria of France, until 1629, when they were granted
to the Queen, as part of her jointure, for ninety-nine years. HenriettaMaria was a daughter of Henri IV and Maria de' Medici. Her mother
had inherited none of the family brains but much of their love of art.
She built the Luxembourg Palace after her husband's death, and there
Rubens immortalised her somewhat over-ripened charms in a series
of immense and sumptuous allegories, which were completed and hung
in time for the marriage by proxy of the Princess and Charles on the
11th of May 1625. The little princess, only sixteen years old at the
time of her marriage, grew up at a court which had been strongly
influenced by Italian culture; while her husband had already formed
the nucleus of a collection of pictures which was to become one of the
most valuable outside Italy. The commission to Rubens to paint the
ceiling of Inigo Jones's new banqueting hall in Whitehall was first
discussed in 1621, before the building was completed, partly, at any
rate, at the suggestion of Prince Charles. (fn. 10) For culture and for art the
auspices of the new reign were happy.

1629

Henrietta-Maria of France

For the first three years the Duke of Buckingham was the most powerful
subject in England. The young Queen disliked him, was jealous of
his influence over her husband, quarrelled with them both, but was
powerless. After the murder of the Duke in 1628, Charles and his wife
were drawn closer together. Greenwich Palace was given to her in the
following year, and thither came Rubens—not as an artist, but as an
ambassador to pave the way for negotiations for peace with Spain.
He has recorded his impressions in two letters. On the 8th of August
1629 he writes: ". . . This island . . . seems to me worthy the
consideration of a man of taste, not only because of the charm of the
countryside, and the beauty of the people, not only because of the
outward show, which appears to me most choice and to announce
a people rich and happy in the bosom of peace, but also by the incredible quantity of excellent pictures, statues and ancient inscriptions
which are in this Court." (fn. 11) In another letter he writes: ". . . I must
confess that, from the point of view of painting, I have never seen such
a quantity of pictures by great masters as in the Palace of the King of
England and in the gallery of the late Duke of Buckingham." (fn. 12)

1630

The next ten years were to be the happiest in Henrietta-Maria's life.
In 1630 her son Charles was born. There is all the gaiety and pride of
the young mother in her description of him: " . . . [his] portrait,
which I sent to the queen my mother, I think you have seen.
He is so ugly that I am ashamed of him, but his size and fatness supply
the want of beauty. I wish you could see the gentleman, for he has no
ordinary mien; he is so serious in all that he does, that I cannot help
fancying him far wiser than myself. . . ." (fn. 13)

Henrietta-Maria now turned her attention to the unfinished Queen's
House. Unfortunately, the accounts have not all been preserved, and
those extant are not all fully detailed. There is an entry for 1630
which shows that the completion of the building was under consideration. Henry Wickes, Paymaster of the Works, includes in his account
for the period 1st October 1629 to 30th September 1630 an item:

"Also allowed to the said Accomptant for money by him yssued and
paied wthin the tyme of this Accompte for sondry necessary workes and
Reparac'ons donne and bestowed uppon the Mannor House of
Grenewyche vizt in framing and setting up A newe Roofe over the Arch
of the newe building . . . " (fn. 14)

The roof was thatched—an indication that the work was unfinished
and to be protected from frost. A sum of £323 is. 8½d. is included in
the account for work in progress "at the Peere at Portland."

A sketch—almost certainly by Inigo Jones—in the Burlington-Devonshire Collection, showing the block-plan and elevation of a square
classic building flanked by four pavilions and crowned by a central
dome, may belong to this period, when the completion of the house
was under discussion. If it represents the Queen's House, as it certainly
seems to do, it is an interesting example of the complete recasting of
an architectural design. It is obviously the source from which Webb
drew his inspiration for the scheme submitted to Charles II in 1661
(Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. Sketch plan and elevation

Among the pictures in the royal collection in Buckingham Palace is
one, painted perhaps by Adriaen Staelbent (1580–1662) (fn. 15), of Greenwich
Palace from the park. In the foreground the King and Queen, with one
of their children, form the centre of a group of courtiers. In the middle
distance the Queen's House breaks the long line of the park wall.
Behind it rise the towers and roofs of the palace with its orchards and
gardens, and across the broad, sparkling river lie the trees and pastures
of the Isle of Dogs (Plate 7).

Another painting of the same period, by an unknown artist, reproduced
by permission of Captain Bruce S. Ingram (S.N.R.) (Plate 9), is of
exceptional interest in that it shows clearly the Queen's House in its
original form as Jones planned it, an H plan spanning the road with
a single bridge.

Fig. 4. Chimney–piece design

1633–35

The accounts for 1633-1634 give no details of building work but
include payments for overtime. (fn. 16) Under the date of the 20th of November 1635, in the Account of receipts and payments of the Exchequer,
is an entry: " . . . towards charges of buildings at Greenwich
700l." (fn. 17) There are references to the work in the State Papers and in
the letters of foreign ambassadors, but the most significant evidence of
the lavishness with which the house was finished and decorated is to
be found in the building itself and in Jones's own designs for chimneypieces, preserved in the Burlington-Devonshire Collection (Plates 17 and
18 and figs. 4 and 5). There are notes in Jones's handwriting in the
margin of his copy of Palladio, dated "Greenwich ye 2 June 1632" (fn. 18)
and "Greenwich 27 of July 1633," (fn. 19) which show the care with which he
was studying every detail of his design. It was to Greenwich that
Charles hastened on his return from his coronation in Scotland in
August 1633, passing east of London and crossing the Thames at
Blackwall, that he might join the queen without delay; for she was
pregnant, and on the 12th of October her son James was born.

1635

On a marble tablet above the central window of the north front is
the date, 1635. On the 18th of May 1635 the Venetian Ambassador,
Anzolo Correr, wrote to the Doge and Senate: " . . . On Wednesday
his Majesty went to Greenwich with the queen. It is thought that they
will both stay there at least six weeks, the king to enjoy the pleasures
of the chase, and the queen to see the completion of a special erection
of hers, which is already far advanced." (fn. 20) But the house was by no
means finished, for two years later, on the 2nd of January 1637, the
same ambassador wrote to the Doge and Senate, relating an incident
of the kind which was seized on by the Queen's enemies and turned to
her detriment: " . . . Some days ago, when their Majesties were
passing near London to go and see some buildings of the queen at
Greenwich, they were observed to leave their barque at the convent (fn. 21)
of the Capuchins, where they passed from the church to the cells and
then to the refectory, not disdaining the poverty, the habits and scant
ceremonies of the friars." (fn. 22)

1636

In 1636 much of the carving in the house was executed. There was
a long and rather acrimonious dispute between Mr. Surveyor and the
Commissioners of the Navy in 1637 concerning the pressing of two
exempted men, Thomas James and Richard Durkin, carvers, into
work for the Navy. Thomas James certified that he had been pressed
out of the Queen's Majesty's work at Greenwich, where he had wrought
a year and a half with two other men. He had been transferred from
Greenwich to Somerset House a month before. Mr. Surveyor had
issued a certificate of exemption on the 29th of January. (fn. 23)

The most interesting point about the dispute is that it is highly probable
that the carvers were needed for work on the Sovereign of the Seas, built
at Woolwich in 1636–7: "a most noble ship," as Pepys called her: (fn. 24)
"a glorious vessel . . . being for defence and ornament the richest
that ever spread cloth before the wind." (fn. 25) She was accidentally
destroyed by fire at Chatham in 1696.

In 1636–7 the marble paving of the hall was laid. Nicholas Stone, the
King's Master Mason, undertook the work, which was carried out by
Gabriel Stacy. (fn. 26)

Fig. 5. Chimney-piece design.

1637; 1639

There are two designs for chimney-pieces, both dated 1637, which
prove the leisurely progress of the work (Figs. 4 and 5). In July 1639
Nicholas Stone carved a chimney-piece of Portland stone and laid
the marble hearths and the back-hearths of Reigate stone in five of
the rooms, and some black and white marble paving "within the door
of Entrance." (fn. 27) In 1639 Richard Dirgin was paid £4 13s. 9d. for
carving two great picture frames for the house, and £1 18s. 8d. for
another picture frame "for the Qs Bedchamber"; while in the same
account George Cary, painter, is paid for painting and gilding five
frames, including one carved with "eggs and anchors," £16 9s. 3d.
Another item which again emphasises the richness and beauty of the
furnishing of the house runs: "To . . . Zachary Tailer Carver for
carving Tenn Pedestalls of Timber for marble Statuaes to stand on
with Bulls heads festons fruites leaves & flowers att lxs the peece. . . ."
These pedestals, with their marble statues, were set up "in the gt
roome at the sd building." (fn. 28) Probably the "xven great Pedestalls of
elme timber with their bases & capitalls," for turning which John
Hooker was paid £9, were intended for the palace or garden, not for
the Queen's House. The number of statues at Greenwich in the
Inventory taken by the Parliamentary Commissioners in 1649–50 is
notably large, and includes the famous bust of Charles I by Bernini,
which was valued at £800. (fn. 29)

1639

Three pictures in the Greenwich collection painted by Orazio
Gentileschi were framed in 1633–4, (fn. 30) but there is no definite date of the
execution of the panels which he painted for the ceiling of the great
hall (Plates 86 and 87) nor of the painting of the cove of the ceiling
of the Queen's bedroom (Plates 76 to 83 and frontispiece). That
Gentileschi painted the canvas panels for the hall ceiling is known,
and their history is given in Appendix II. He may have painted
other ceilings at Greenwich, for Charles held him in high esteem,
despite the efforts of Sir Balthazar Gerbier to belittle and discredit the
Italian. (fn. 31) The Duke of Buckingham had brought Gentileschi to
England, and after the Duke's assassination his widow found herself
constrained to appeal to Charles to rid her of a guest who had
outstayed his welcome. (fn. 32) Negotiations with Jakob Jordaens for the
decoration of the Queen's cabinet were begun in 1639 through Gerbier,
who conducted them with characteristic crookedness. (fn. 33) Rubens was
asked to paint the ceiling panels, but his price was high, and his death
ended the negotiations. "Mr Surveyor" was frequently called into
consultation on the subject of these decorations during the first six
months of 1640, (fn. 34) but his own part in the perfecting of the House of
Delight must have been finished a year or so before.

The Queen paid many visits to Greenwich to view the progress of the
work, and here the court frequently spent the months of June and
July. (fn. 35) Charles was never free from political anxieties, but his wife had
her husband and her children, her masques, her gardens and her
pleasure-house. She proclaimed herself the happiest of women. She
had all her father's high courage, as she proved again and again in the
years to come; but she had no political wisdom. She had all her
mother's obstinacy and much of her stupidity in her dealings with
others; but she had a steadfast loyalty and deep affection which were
all her own. There can have been barely three years in which she
could enjoy the finished beauty of her house. One reference to it,
written only a few years later, shows how deep an impression that
beauty made on those who saw it during the few brief years of its first
splendour: "Queen Ann, in the time of King James, builded that
new Brick-work towords the Garden, and laid the Foundation of the
House of Delight, towards the Park, which Queen Mary, hath so
finished and furnished, that it far surpasseth all other of that kind in
England." (fn. 36)

1642

On the 10th of February 1642 the King and Queen stayed for a night at
Greenwich on their way to Dover. The storm-clouds were black in
the political sky. The Queen was taking her eldest daughter, the
Princess Mary, to Holland, to her affianced husband William, Prince of
Orange. The House of Commons, viewing the actions of the Queen
with the gravest suspicion, protested that the princess, who was only
ten years old, was too young to leave England. The Queen, under the
pretext of drinking the Spa waters, was anxious to raise arms and money
in Holland and to visit France to seek aid for her husband from the
king her brother. King Charles, with the young Prince of Wales, left
Greenwich for the north. In April he was refused admission to the
walled town of Kingston-upon-Hull. The Civil War had begun. In
August the royal standard was raised at Nottingham. For the next
seven years Charles was fighting, negotiating, a prisoner. The Queen
was raising money and munitions in Holland; back in England as
"Generalissima" to bring reinforcements to her husband; escaping
to France fifteen days after the birth of her youngest daughter,
Henriette-Anne, the little sister whom Charles II loved with the
purest affection of his chequered life: negotiating with Mazarin, with
the Irish catholics, with the anti-Parliamentarian English fleet;
finally living in miserable anxiety in the Louvre on the charity of her
sister-in-law, where she received the news of her husband's execution
on the 30th of January 1649.

The Interregnum

The Commonwealth

Parliament ordered that an inventory be made of the goods of
Charles Stuart. Only imperfect copies of it have survived, but from
them can be estimated the richness of the collection of pictures,
statues and works of art found in the royal palaces. The value
placed on the collection by the Commissioners would err on the
side of under-estimation, yet in Greenwich Palace alone the pictures
and statues were valued at more than £7,000. (fn. 37) Those in the Queen's
House were not catalogued under a definite heading, but the following
list of pictures, grouped together in the Inventory, were certainly
there: (fn. 38)

fo. 119

No.

£

s

d

1

A Peece of Pharoahs Daughter finding Moses done by
Genteliscoe

80

-

-

Sold Mr Wm. Lathom
&c in a Dividend as Aprised 23 Oct° 1651

2

Lott and his two Daughters

80

-

-

Sold Mr Lathom &c Ditto

3

Nine Peeces in ye Ceeling

600

-

-

Sold Mr Lathom &c Ditto

4

Eight Peeces in One Roome per Jordaicon, att

200

-

-

Sold Mr Lathom &c Ditto

5

One Peece done by Rubens

150

-

-

Sold Mr Lathom &c Ditto

6

One Peece in ye Ceeling, being Daedalus & Iccorus, done by Julio Romano

500

-

-

both these sold Mr. Baker 2d ffeb: 1650 for 55li

7

A Chimney peece being Diana
& Acteon

30

-

-

8

Another of the Same

25

-

-

A Peece of Joseph p' Gentiliscoe

50

-

-

Sold Mr Wilson

The Totall

1715

There are several important points to be noted in this Inventory, apart
from the interest of the pictures themselves and the values placed
upon them. One point is that against two items, both relating to
ceiling pictures, there is no note of a sale in any copy of the Inventory;
while against two others, which also formed part of the structural
decoration, so to speak, of the house, the note of sale is erased. This
may be taken as confirming the impression that the Queen's House
was to some extent safeguarded from the spoliation to which the
palace appears to have been subjected.

Another point is that eight pictures by Jordaens are noted as being
"in one room": an indication that more of the paintings for the
decoration of the Queen's Cabinet had been completed and sent to
England than are noted in the extant correspondence.

A third point is that a ceiling piece by Giulio Romano, valued at a high
figure, is mentioned. Nothing is known of the provenance of this
picture or the place it occupied in the house. The "nine peeces"
must be those painted by Gentileschi for the ceiling of the hall. The
Giulio Romano can hardly have been companioned, even for a time,
by the Jordaens canvases in the Cabinet, but may have formed the
centrepiece of the ceiling of the Queen's Bedroom, where now the
later panel of Aurora is painted. The design of this ceiling, with the
doubled border at the two ends of the centre panel, almost suggests
the necessity for devising a space to fit a pre-existing picture. In any
case, the Giulio Romano, which does not appear to have been sold,
must have been removed at a later time.

On April the 29th 1652 John Evelyn noted in his diary: "We went
this afternoon to see the Queene's House at Greenwich, now given
by the rebells to Bulstrode Whitlock, one of their unhappy counsellors,
and keeper of pretended liberties."

Parts of the great palace by the river were let or sold in various lots.
The buildings and land occupied by the King's Works went to Simon
Bassill, (fn. 39) perhaps a descendant of that Simon Basil on whose death
Inigo Jones had succeeded to the office of Surveyor. Other parts went
to Henry Henn (fn. 40) and to Uriah Babbington (fn. 41) (who was retained as
"under housekeeper" after the Restoration).

1653; 1657

Between 1652 and 1654 Dutch prisoners captured in the naval struggles
at Portland, the Gabbard, and Scheveningen were incarcerated in
other parts of the palace. But the Queen's House, together with the
Park and Castle, was reserved for the use of the Commonwealth:
Bulstrode Whitelocke was in possession, and little, if any, damage was
done to the house. Indeed, as Professor Callender has written: "The
Queen's House, by contrast [with the older palace], received fresh
access of dignity. After the victory of the Gabbard [1653] the body of
General Deane lay in state in Inigo Jones's Hall: and a few years later
[1657] came the body of one, perhaps the only one of that age, whom
Roundheads and Cavaliers agreed to praise. In the same Hall, the
illustrious Robert Blake lay in state, while all London put on mourning, or prepared for the funeral procession by river to Westminster
Abbey with many state barges dressed in black and the silent homage
of thousands bare-headed." (fn. 42)

Later History: The Restoration

Inigo Jones died in 1652, "through grief, as is well known, for
the fatal calamity of his dread master," (fn. 43) bequeathing legacies
(among others) to John Webb and Richard Gammon, (fn. 44) who had
married his kinswomen. Webb, his pupil and assistant, inherited the
master's drawings, and it is primarily to his pious care that we owe
their preservation. When his son's widow sold them, the major portion
of the collection was bought by Lord Burlington, and is now in the
library of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Nearly all the
remainder was bought by Dr. George Clarke, a man of considerable
versatility and an amateur architect, who bequeathed his collection of
drawings to Worcester College, Oxford.

The year 1660, which saw the restoration of King Charles II, was
marked by great activity in refitting the royal palaces. Whitehall was
the first care, and Greenwich, which had suffered perhaps greater
spoliation than any other of the major palaces, was left derelict for
another year. In June 1661 the King visited the palace, and two gates
in the park were broken open to let him in. Arthur Haughton (fn. 45) was
instructed to "take a platt of the House and grounds "and the storeyard of the Works was set in order. (fn. 46)

1661

In August the work of repairing and enlarging the "new buildings"
—viz., the Queen's House— was begun. There is no record of the
preliminary discussions. Sir John Denham was the Surveyor-General,
with John Webb to assist him, and the probability is that Webb planned
the alterations to the work of his master, Inigo Jones, as well as the new
palace which Charles II determined to build on the site of the derelict
buildings by the river. (fn. 47) A plan is preserved in the Burlington-Devonshire Collection (Plate 21) which may belong to this date or
be that made in 1663 (see p. 42). Inigo Jones's building is shown, with
its mullioned windows, and considerable alterations, with notes and
dimensions in handwriting that is almost certainly Webb's. This
scheme was partially carried out in the next twelve months. No
interference with the public road was contemplated, but two new
bridges were to be built across it with rooms above them, uniting the
original blocks of building on the east and on the west, so that on the
first floor an uninterrupted suite of state-rooms would be obtained
round the outer circuit of the house. (fn. 48) This part of the scheme shows
imagination and ingenuity, as well as respect for the work of an older
architect. Less admirable is the scheme for further increasing the
accommodation of the house by adding four corner pavilions. (fn. 49) Not
only would these have necessitated the awkward insertion of doorways
in the angles of the four principal rooms on each floor: they would
have destroyed the simplicity and beauty of the plans and elevations.
No attempt was made in 1661 to build these pavilions, nor to form the
courts enclosed by walls on the east and west sides of the house; but
the derelict condition of the great palace by the river made some
increase in the accommodation in the Queen's House imperative, and
another alteration was planned on the first floor. The two large rooms
at the south-east and south-west corners of the house, opening on to the
loggia, were each divided by a partition to form the King's closet and
bedchamber and the Queen's closet and bedchamber. Over each
closet a floor was inserted to form an additional small room under the
roof. Further attic rooms were "gained" over the small inner rooms
on the south side looking on to the roadway, necessitating the construction of two additional staircases. These alterations, especially the
mutilation of the two large rooms communicating with the loggia,
must have been forced on the architect. They ruined the proportions
of the rooms, interrupted their ordered and stately sequence, and shut
off the loggia from the range of state-rooms.

Over the foot-passages on either side of the two main archways of
the new bridges were formed narrow rooms to be used by the guards or
porters. Four staircases (not shown on Webb's plan) connected these
rooms with the ground floor. (fn. 50)

In August 1661 the road through the house was temporarily closed.
Breaches were made in the park wall and fences put up to enclose an
accommodation road, and for the next twelve months a labourer was
paid £1 a month to open and shut the gates for passengers. The
brickwork of the new archways and the rooms above them was carried
out on two separate contracts by Isaac Corner and Thomas Pattison.
Full details are given in the accounts for the month of November 1661
(cf. Appendix IV). It may be noted that, although the two bridges
appear to be identical, the one involved 38 rod of brickwork and cost
£217 3s. od., less an allowance for old bricks, while the other involved
36¾ rods and cost £210 15s. 6d., less a smaller allowance. By January
1662 the carpenters were busy bracketing the ceilings in the two new
rooms, framing the partition to divide the Queen's closet from the
chamber, "framing and raifing of two floores (vizt) one on the King's
side, th'other on the Queenes side," repairing the ceiling in the presence
chamber and the gilded mouldings in the hall ceiling; while the
bricklayers were "pining in" four stone door-cases.

1662

In the March accounts there is an entry for taking down "the marble
neech and tearmes wth. the marble head in a lower roome in the
new Buildings." From subsequent entries it appears that the "marble
head" was in the north-east room next to the hall—a room in which
a freestone chimney-piece was set up a month later. The niche may
have been in the same room or may have been the lining of the apse on
the south side of the hall. John Grove is paid in the same account for
the modelled plaster ceilings in the two new rooms on the first floor.
A little later these two rooms are wainscoted, and Robert Streeter,
the Serjeant Painter, is paid £3 10s. od. for "mending the Ceeling
peice wch. came from St. Jameses house xj foote Diameter." In the
June accounts the carpenters are paid for making "a ftreyning frame
for the Ovall picture." This is noted among items relating to the King's
bedchamber: as this room (the south-east corner room on the first
floor) has a coved ceiling with an oval panel in the centre it is probable
that the ceiling-painting from St. James's was put up here. The
longer diameter of the panel is 10 ft. 5 in. In the two new bridge rooms
were set up two "Egipt marble chimney-peeces" for which Joshua
Marshall, the Master Mason, was paid £26 each. In the July account
much finishing work is charged for, and the house is swept and cleaned.
The queen-mother, Henrietta-Maria, landed in England at the end of
July and proceeded to Greenwich, where she stayed until alterations to
the larger and more convenient palace of Denmark House (fn. 51) were
completed. During this time she must have occupied the Queen's
House, for the older palace at Greenwich was derelict and already in
process of demolition; but apartments were fitted up there for the
Earl of St. Albans, (fn. 52) whose appointment as Keeper of Greenwich House
and Ranger of Greenwich Park was confirmed on the 24th of April
1662. Evelyn went to Greenwich on the 28th of July to wait on the
Queen; and on the 14th of August he notes in his Diary: "This
afternoone the Queene Mother with the Earle of St. Albans and many
greate ladies and persons, was pleas'd to honor my poore villa with her
presence, and to accept of a collation. She was exceedingly pleas'd
and stay'd till very late in the evening." (fn. 53)

1663

Perhaps as a direct consequence of the Queen-Mother's residence there,
further alterations were projected at the Queen's House in the following
year. Charles had already begun the laying-out of the park on the
model of the great French demesnes: Le Nôtre himself visited England
in 1662 and made designs for the planting of the parks at Greenwich
and St. James's. Pepys, on the 11th of April, went "back to Greenwich
by water, and there . . . walked into the Park, where the King hath
planted trees and made steps in the hill up to the castle, which is very
magnificent." These steps, and the great radiating avenues designed
by Le Nôtre, can still be traced; but for years the planting was
neglected, (fn. 54) paths were made—first as tracks, then asphalted or
gravelled—crossing the grass in every direction, to the serious detriment
of the design; while no attempt was made to replace trees which
had died or been blown down. Accurate surveys exist of the original
planting: sympathetic care will, it is hoped, redeem a noble example
of seventeenth-century design from complete destruction.

Among Charles's letters to his sister Henriette, who had married
Philippe, duc d'Orléans, in 1661, is a note written on the 17th of
October 1664: "Pray lett le Nostre goe on with the modell, and only
tell him this addition that I can bring water to the top of the hill, so
that he may add much to the beauty of the desente by a cascade of
watter." (fn. 55) There is no record of the place to which the "modell"
(or design) referred, but the "desente" suggests the grass steps
in the hill-side in Greenwich Park. There was water there, brought
in conduits from Blackheath for the use of the palace. The situation
would almost irresistibly suggest to the creator of the gardens of
Vaux-le-Vicomte and of Versailles a cascade—fountains—ornamental
waters.

Work was carried on for some years in the park; but meanwhile the
King was not yet satisfied with the alterations to the Queen's House.
Greenwich palace and park were still the property of the QueenMother, but from references in the accounts it appears that it was
Charles, who was happy in sight of shipping, who wished to restore
to Greenwich something of its earlier splendour. (fn. 56) In March 1663 the
wall separating the palace gardens from the road was repaired and
strengthened, the temporary fence in the park removed, and a "ground
plott" of the house was drawn. (fn. 57) This ground plan must have been
made in view of the new works contemplated by the King, for in May
the charges for "setting out the ground in the parke for the adition
to the new building" were entered in the accounts: labourers were
employed in "digging the topp of the foundation of the adition to the
new building in the parke and digging in the Gardine to shew where
the high way shall goe, and helping to load timber to carry to the
water side." These additions were the corner pavilions already
mentioned (p. 39); the work in the garden was the prelude to the work
of building the new palace on the river bank which Evelyn had
discussed with Sir John Denham in October 1661, and Charles had
described to Evelyn three months later.

1664; 1665

In June and July the foundations of the two pavilions on the park side
were dug, 48 feet by 44 feet, and the bricklayers were underpinning
"two of the Quines . . . six foots deepe & 18 fot. returne." But in
August all labour was diverted to the work of preparing for the building
of the new palace, except for making a scaffold "and putting up the
round picture in the Ceeling" of the Queen's House. Unfortunately
there is no indication which ceiling is referred to. The building of
a "snow well" in the park was begun, and in January 1664 the
foundations of the new palace were staked out. In the February
accounts John Grone, Stationer, was paid 1s. 2d. for "2 large thick
past boards made into a cover"; Arthur Haughton charged 5s. 6d.
for "a box covered with red leather to putt ye designes in"; and in
March the carpenters were paid for "two plate boards for draughts."
The Greenwich Works Office was equipping itself, not for lunch-hour
amusement, but for the making and preserving of architectural
drawings. John Webb Esqr Deputy Surveyor generall was paid £6
in May "for his Jorney to Lindhurst and Portland, xj dayes" to
arrange for the supply of stone. The one item in this account charged
to the Queen's House is for 162 quarries at 1d. each used by Thomas
Bagley, master glazier, and the charge is headed "For the old Buildings." Evelyn notes that the elms were planted in Greenwich Park
this year, and on the 4th of March Pepys "at Greenwich did observe
the foundation laying of a very great house for the King, which will
cost a great deale of money." (fn. 58) In June Richard Gammon, Clerk of
the Works, was paid 8s. for "bringing a Trunck with drawing out of
Sumrsetsheire" (fn. 59); and in the same month there is a foreshadowing
of workmen's compensation in the payment of 40s. to Thomas Fisher,
a labourer "yt was dangerously hurt in the worke for his losse of
tyme & charges of his Cure." (fn. 60) In July John Tomlin was paid £5
"for throwing downe the princes lodgs. and Towr: in the Tiltyard." (fn. 61)
In January 1665 Richard Gammon again journeyed into Somerset,
at a cost of 18s., to fetch two boxes "wth. book prints and drawings of
Mr. Webbs for his maties. Ufe." This year, the worst plague year in
London, the officials of the Board of Admiralty moved their offices to
Greenwich to escape infection. On the 24th of August Pepys "dined
very well" at Greenwich, "and thence to look upon our rooms again
at the King's house, which are not yet ready for us." A few repairs
were carried out in the Queen's House, the most interesting item being
the account for work done by Richard Ashworth, smith, who repaired
the wrought-iron balustrade of the round stairs. (fn. 62) In March there are
payments to carpenters for "the making of a moddell for ye Fountaine
in the Parke and making of stakes setting out the Ground &c." (fn. 63) If this
fountain was ever built, all trace of it has now disappeared. It may
have been part of the scheme designed by Le Nôtre, referred to in
Charles's letter to his sister, already quoted (p. 42). In May a warrant
was issued to pay Sir William Boreman, keeper of the dwarf orchard,
£589 17s. 8d. for keeping and planting sixteen coppices and a dwarf
orchard in the park, and £148 a year for gardener's wages and other
expenses; (fn. 64) and in July another warrant for £1,200 was issued to
Adrian May for levelling, planting and other works in the park. (fn. 65)
A warrant dated 12th December 1665 is an interesting reminder of
one method of securing money for the King's Works. It is "for a grant
to John Lord Berkeley and Sir Hugh Pollard of the estate of Peter Cole,
bookseller of London, forfeit by his committing suicide, on their
paying one half of the value thereof towards building the King's house
at Greenwich." (fn. 66)

1666

Little was done to the Queen's House in 1666 save general maintenance
repairs. The lead roof was overhauled, and the foundations of "the
Quoines of the Queenes buildings next the parke" were protected by
"two Dams for marsh earth" rammed and covered with weeds. The
glazing was made good, the "boards from ye windows and doores"
being taken down and afterwards nailed up again to preserve it.

1667; 1669

In May 1667 work was resumed on the foundations of the two pavilions
on the south side of the house, while the ground was staked out for the
foundations of the second pair at the corners of the north front. In
June there was little work done beyond the "putting up of ledges for
hangings" in several rooms, and for the next year and a half nothing
more than maintenance repairs was done. In January 1669 a minor
disaster occurred, and carpenters were employed "in shoring wth.
fower large peices the side wall of the Kitchen that was flowen out
belonging to the Queens buildings and spiking on a peice of timber
under the joysts to keepe them up," (fn. 67) a result, in all probability, of
leaving unfinished the work on the foundations of the south-east
pavilion.

1670

In the autumn of 1669 half of the marble paving of the loggia on the
south side of the house had to be taken up, owing to the decay of the
joists. The work occupied twelve months. Meanwhile, the idea of
building the four angle pavilions was finally abandoned: the brick
foundations already built were grubbed up and the excavations filled
in with earth. (fn. 68) In November 1670 Leonard Gammon, the Clerk of
Works, was granted £1 for "extraordinary paines in reward for this
last summer." (fn. 69)

Catherine of Braganza

There are a number of pictures showing the Queen's House at this
period. Perhaps the best-known ones are the copies of the painting by
Dankaerts, one of which is in the possession of the Trustees of the
National Maritime Museum (Plate 12). Pepys met the artist on the
22nd of January 1669, and commissioned him to paint four pictures
in distemper of four of the royal palaces for his dining-room. The
Greenwich picture was finished in March, to his "very good content,"
and a fortnight later the diarist went to Greenwich by water, "and
there landed at the King's house, which goes on slow, but is very
pretty. I to the Park, there to see the prospect of the hill, to judge of
Dancre's picture, which he hath made thereof for me: and I do like
it very well: and it is a very pretty place." (fn. 70)

In 1670 a grant was made to Thomas Boreman of the place of underkeeper of the palace at Greenwich. The appointment is interesting
as showing the relative importance of the parts of the palace. For
keeping the great house and galleries (viz., the new Charles II block)
the yearly fee was £20; for the White House (i.e., the Queen's House)
and buildings annexed, £13 6s. 8d.; for keeping the gardens, £18 5s. (fn. 71)
The wages of the day workmen and labourers were, however, in
arrears. Charles had no money, but, "being graciously sensible of
their condition," referred their petition to the Treasury Commissioners. (fn. 72) The planting of the park was still in progress. On the 24th
of June 1670 Hugh May was appointed inspector of the French and
English gardeners at Whitehall, St. James's, Greenwich and Hampton
Court, at a yearly salary of £200 (fn. 73)

1671; 1673; 1674

In the accounts for June 1671 are payments to labourers for strengthening the doors in the cellars of the Queen's House "for secureing ye
Marbles there." This refers to marble shipped from Leghorn to be
used for chimney-pieces and for paving in Charles II's building.
In August carpenters were employed "in making a large Ovall Table
wth. Tressels for the greate roome in ye Qs buildings and putting up
battens for hangings aboute that roome." (fn. 74) In July 1673 is a charge
for "bourding up with slitt deale two in side windowes in ye passage
next the Kitchin & fastening up one of ye. dores there for a pantry."
Some door-linings "of deale wainscot wrought with bellexions and
raised pannells" and some window shutters were also made. In
December 1673 work was begun on the repair of the rusticated brick
archway forming the gate into the park "against Fryers road" (fn. 75); and
during the next summer the roof over the great hall, carried on two
large oak trusses over a span of 40 feet, was repaired at a cost of
£68 13s. 1d. (fn. 76)

1675

Many items in the accounts prove the inconvenience of having a highway running through the house. One such is the charge for "workeing
and setting of a new post of oak at one of the Quoines of the Queenes
buildings in the highwaie to defend it from ye. Carts the old one being
wrotted and brocken down"; (fn. 77) and some years later labourers were
employed "about Raisinge and Leveling the Ground washed into
Great Holes & plowed vp by Cartes at ye. Queens house," and "21
Load of Rubish & Stone" were used to raise the ground and mend the
road under the house. (fn. 78)

But among all these payments for ordinary maintenance of the house,
noted with such exactitude by the Clerk of the Works, the most interesting occurs in March 1675, when charges are made for three pairs of
deal shutters for three windows "in a lower roome att the Queens
buildings next the parke (where the Dutch painters worke)." William
van de Velde the elder, "painter of sea-fights to their Majesties King
Charles II and King James II," as the inscription on his tombstone
in St. James's, Piccadilly, records, came to England in 1675, and was
probably accompanied by his son. What is more likely than that they
should have been given lodgings by the King in the Queen's House?
The younger van de Velde died at Greenwich in 1707, (fn. 79) and the link
will now be renewed through the preservation in the National Maritime
Museum of the large and valuable collection of van de Velde drawings
and pictures. The Dutch painters were still working in this room
in 1678.

The Sergeant Painter's accounts are valuable for their record of the
colours used in the decoration of the rooms, but occasionally chance
references in other accounts provide unexpected clues. In August 1675
the ceiling of the room "next the Blew roome" was repaired with
brackets "to hang up the carved timber worke thereof, and raising the
Ceiling being sunke on one side the roome. . . ." (fn. 80) This refers almost
certainly to the cabinet room on the first floor leading out of the
Queen's drawing-room. Traces of blue pigment were found on the
background of the gilded carving of frieze and cornice of the latter
room.

1676–85

Mary of Modena

During the later years of Charles II's reign there was little use made
of the house and little money spent on it. Carpenters were employed
in repairing the frieze of the hall during the winter of 1676–7, "making
it good wth. new boards where it was rotted," and "hanging vp" the
four corner cantilevers or "cartooses" supporting the gallery there
with ten squares of iron. (fn. 81) In the account for November 1677 Mr.
Robert Streeter, Sergeant Painter, was paid £9 Is. 8½d. for painting
and for touching up and regilding a cornice and panelling. (fn. 82) The
King had lost interest in Greenwich and was full of the project for
a new palace at Winchester. The building was deserted, and the
windows boarded up "to prevent Robing the house."

12. Ibid., p. 210. The collection of pictures and statues belonging to the Duke
of Mantua had been purchased by the King in 1628. The collection included
Mantegna's "Triumph of Julius Caesar," and the price paid exceeded £18,000.

32. "1631. July 28. 45. Katherine Duchess of Buckingham to Sec. Dorchester.
If Gentileschi could have the money due to him from his Majesty he would leave
England and be gone to his own country. Begs him to move the King thereon, so
that the Duchess may have York House free to herself, for want whereof she is
constrained to keep a family at Chelsea to look after her laundry" (C.S.P.
Domestic, Chas. I, 1631–33).

44. A certain Richard Gammon was Clerk of the Works at the Tower from 1660
to 1670, when he was transferred to Denmark House; and Leonard Gammon
held the like post at Greenwich from 1661 to 1680, when he was transferred to
Whitehall.

54. As early as 1716 Thomas Hewitt reported to the Lords of the Treasury that
there was "great waste made in Greenwich Park. . . . One grove of chestnuts
has been cut down and entirely destroyed" (Cal. Treas. Bks., 1714–19, p. 192).